THE KZN Growth Fund Agency (KZNGFA) has completed the automation of its funding application process with the launch of an online application portal (http://portal.kzngrowthfund.co.za), linked to the fund’s website.
The KZNGFA is a development finance institution offering a minimum funding amount of R20 million to black-owned medium-to large-scale private sector projects throughout KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), which are ready to scale up and expand their operations in order to ensure economic development and job creation in the province.
This as KZN is the second largest contributor (about 16%) to South Africa’s gross domestic product after Gauteng.
Online submissions will save applicants’ time, while also supporting entrepreneurs with the funding process to ensure that all applications are submitted with all the necessary information, in order to speed up the adjudication of applications, the fund said in a statement yesterday.
KZNGFA board chairperson Dr Cassius Lubisi said, “The application process for funding business growth can be daunting, and given that our applicants have likely been denied funding by the traditional financial institutions, we understand that there may be some resistance to the application process.”
Applicants criteria:
A black-owned business in any of the following industries: transport and logistics, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, forestry and tourism, among others.
Lubisi said, “These are the industries that are at the heart of economic development in the province, and from which black-owned businesses were excluded for far too long.
“The KZNGFA is hoping to attract more applicants at the right calibre to ensure that its mandate as an economic stimulator is met.”
The agency said the online application portal has been developed in such a way as to provide an easy-to-follow guide for applicants, to ensure that no step in the application process is unfinished and that there are no incomplete applications that are submitted. - BR Reporter.